Six-Week Memoir-Writing Workshop Led By Author and Teacher, Frances Lefkowitz, at Berkeley Public Library

Berkeley, January 2, 2014—The New Year is a great time to keep that resolution to write that memoir. The Memoir-Writing Workshop will be held on six Tuesday evenings from 6:00 pm to 7:30 p.m. starting on February 4th and continuing through March 11, 2014, in the third-floor Community Meeting Room of the Central Library located at 2014 Kittredge Street.This workshop is limited to 25 students.Advanced registrationis required and will begin January 13, 2014. Please call 510-981-6196 to register.

In this six-session, hands-on workshop for people of all ages and backgrounds, Frances Lefkowitz offers simple writing exercises and techniques, as well as examples of published memoirs inspiring students to write personal essays or true stories about the events, people, and places in their lives. The process of writing brings added layers of reflection and context which turn the telling into literature; it also helps writers see with fresh understanding the stories they’ve heard or told their whole lives. At the conclusion of the workshop an anthology of student work will be produced.

“Everybody has at least one story worth putting into words and onto paper,” says Instructor Frances Lefkowitz, the author of To Have Not, a memoir about growing up poor in San Francisco in the 1970s and an examination of what poverty does to the soul. To Have Not was named one of five “Best Memoirs of 2010” by SheKnows.com. Her articles, essays, and short stories have appeared in commercial magazines likeWhole Living, Body+Soul, Utne Reader and literary journals such as Tin House, The Sun and Glimmer Train Stories. The stories have earned two special mentions for the Pushcart Prize and one for Best American Essays, among other honors. She is the book reviewer for Good Housekeeping and teaches writing workshops throughout the Bay Area. For more program information call 510-981-6148 or connect to www.berkeleypubliclibrary.org